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Spain to prosecute 40 Rwandans for genocide

Spain's top criminal court has announced it will prosecute 40 Rwandan army officers for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism related to events that took place in the 1990s.

The Rwandan army on Wednesday assailed a Spanish court decision to prosecute 40 Rwandan officers as an attempt to tarnish the country's image and said the case would fail.

"This is nothing but an attempt to tarnish Rwanda's image," aid army spokesman Jill Rutaremara in Kigali.

"We are used to such allegations, made by individuals to advance their own political interests," Rutaremara told AFP.

"This new ill-intentioned campaign will fail as did all the previous ones."

Spain's top criminal court announced in Madrid it will prosecute 40 Rwandan army officers for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism related to events that took place between 1994 and 2000, including under the current President Paul Kagame.

Kagame's then rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front in July 1994 put an end to the 100-day slaughter of about 800,000 people, mostly from the Tutsi minority, by Hutu extremist militias and government troops of the day.